Americans for Responsible Leadership, the Arizona-based group with undisclosed donors that poured $11 million into campaigns to defeat the governor's tax initiative and approve an effort to limit unions' political cash, reportedly has provided California's political watchdog with confidential campaign information.
From John Myers at Sacramento's News10: "Following a tense weekend of legal filings and court defiance, an Arizona group has given California campaign finance officials confidential information about the sources of its $11 million contribution aimed at influencing two Golden State ballot measures."
"Even so, the Arizona based Americans for Responsible Leadership fought the state review of its records mightily -- going so far as to spend much of late Sunday afternoon in open defiance of a California Supreme Court order to hand over the documents. And as of Sunday night, the group had asked for an emergency reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court."
"The general gist of Americans for Responsible Leadership's opposition has been this: their donor anonymity is constitutionally protected, California regulators are on a political vendetta to use a power even their own procedures don't allow, and the group's appeal of the lower court ruling required the whole process to be put on hold -- even if it meant no more public information until after Election Day."
Workers at Raley's supermarkets' went out on strike Sunday, a remarkable event at a company where labor peace has lasted for decades.
From the Bee's Dale Kasler: "After decades of labor harmony, Raley's and its unionized workers went to war Sunday over the very future of the supermarket industry."
"About 5,000 employees walked off the job at Raley's and its Nob Hill Foods subsidiary after three days of marathon negotiations ended in failure. Picket lines went up at 6 a.m., but Raley's said every one of its 130 stores was open."
"The strike is about wages and benefits, but in the larger sense it's a struggle about what's ailing the traditional grocery industry. After dominating much of Northern California'sgrocery business for the past 77 years, Raley's says it has become an unprofitable chain trying to hold off a wave of low-cost, mostly nonunion competitors like Wal-Mart."
With all the attention on the state ballot props and the presidential race, the congressional races are getting lost in the shuffle. But there's big money and big competition there, too.
From the Chronicle's Carolyn Lochhead: "More than $53 million has flowed into California's House campaigns, with independent analysts listing nine of the contests as competitive and at least three as toss-ups going into the Tuesday election."
"More than 80 outside groups, including independent super PACs, are pouring money into the state in an effort to shape its 53-member delegation, the nation's largest, which now is composed of 34 Democrats and 19 Republicans."
"From Hayward to San Diego, more seats are in play than in at least a generation because of election reforms that have turned California from a cruise ship for incumbents to a minefield for both parties."
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, a voter signature drive is under way to change the pension benefits of new municipal hires, similar to the changes adopted earlier by San Diego.
From Ed Mendel in Calpensions: "Signature gathering began last week for an initiative to switch new hires of California’s largest city from pensions to a 401(k)-style plan, a change begun in the second largest city, San Diego, after voters approved a similar initiative in June."
"Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who has warned the city is sliding toward bankruptcy, is pushing the initiative. He does not think costs will be controlled by the recent approval of lower pensions for most new hires, except police and firefighters."
"Many private-sector employers have switched to 401(k) individual investment plans: a fixed annual payment that avoids long-term pension debt. But investment risk is shifted to employees, critics say, and a 401(k) often provides an inadequate retirement."
Early voters, tracked closely in the battleground states, are making an impact here, too, with high numbers.
From Josh Richman in the Mercury News: "Election Day may be just hours away, but more than 800,000 Bay Area voters won't be showing up at the polls Tuesday: They have already voted, as Californians in record numbers are trading the ballot box for the mailbox."
"It's as if the entire city of San Francisco held the election early."
"Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and in this presidential election year, they may still be mobbed -- especially considering California now has a record 18.2 million registered voters, up by more than 940,000 from this time four years ago."
And from our "New York, New York" file comes an impact of Hurricane Sandy that has been missed: What about the "Mole People," the homeless who inhabit the New York subway tunnels?
"There are other homeless folks who are almost quite literally invisible. They are the "Mole People" who live in the subways of New York. It is estimated that there are thousands of people who live in this subterranean world, where they have established cities that live off of the electricity, scavenge the excess of a city that is decadent in its wastefulness, raise children and tend to pets, live and love, and make a civilization where they are the mayors, citizens, doctors, and police."
"These human beings, us, and yes we are them, are not monsters or "CHUDS." In order for the collective consciousness of New York to maintain a veneer of normality, the Mole People are transformed into the stuff of legend and urban mythology. Nevertheless, they are real."
"What happened to them during Super Storm Sandy? Are there thousands of dead people who are now washed away by the greatest disaster in the history of New York City's mass transit system ? Is this "human management problem" now solved by an intervention from nature? Are the biopolitics of the State in a time of economic crisis so cruel and calculating? What of their family members, friends, and loved ones? Will they ever have any closure?"
Maybe this is all an urban myth ....